I learned about Apple’s change to Game Center – a social network for iOS apps. My iPod Touch (second generation) is no longer excluded from the fun. With my poky 8GB device, I could partake of this online gaming experience. Ah, but there still was a barrier to surpass. I wasn’t quite sure how to get started. I had seen the Game Center app before, but I didn’t know how to download it to my iPod Touch. I wanted to secure “Photics” as my login name, as I’m planning to be quite active in this new gaming arena.
I searched the iTunes App store, but there wasn’t a download for Game Center. I remember seeing Game Center in the iPhone Simulator. So, I fired it up and then I hit the icon. Doh, I quickly noticed that the app was running in sandbox mode. How could I make it real? I realized that an update to my iPod Touch was in order. I launched iTunes and I upgraded iOS to 4.1. Boom — that’s all I needed to do. During synchronization, Game Center was automatically downloaded to my iPod Touch.
I was ready to register my account. After filling out some forms, and reading through seven pages of legalize, my account was created. Apple wants to know your real name, email address, country and birthday. I didn’t like entering my birthday, but I realized that this is age sensitive material.
Almost immediately, I got a bad feeling. This is basically another social network to waste time with. I avoided registering for Facebook and Twitter, realizing that it could consume a lot of time. Game Center could be 10 times worse. It’s about video games. It’s a realm for people like me. It’s very exciting, but I have to stay focused. I’m here to make games, not waste hours and hours going after achievements.
I also activated push-notification. A trumpet sound plays when you get a new friend request. Oh yeah, this is going to be time consuming. It also seems like a lot of fun. It’s similar to XBOX Live or the PlayStation Network, except this is for iOS devices.
- iPod Touch (Generations 2,3 & 4)
- iPhone (3GS and 4)
Since iOS 4.1 is required, there’s no iPad support. I suspect that will change this fall. This looks like the start of something highly entertaining.